EHR Paper

Achieving quality improvements through EHR is neither low cost nor easy. That being said, depending on how much the physician uses the EHR, not the hard copy of the record, is what will make the difference. Physicians seem to feel that the cost of changing from paper charts to EHR is a little high. Not only do they think this will affect their bottom line income, but also the amount of time they can spend with their patients. The physician office is hit from the beginning with the cost. They know going into the implementation of the EHR that the stimulus money from the government is not going to begin to replace the cost of the system they are using until meaningful use is achieved. Physicians also worry about the cost of training personnel and he cost to keep the EHR system up to date. When looking at the big picture one can see how cost are reduced. The cost of transcription is lowered with the physicians doing their own dictation, if the office has a clerk that has to pull or refile the hard copy of the chart; the cost is reduced there too. A plus is more accurate reimbursement, because the coder can bill more accurately. The EHR also helps with the reduction of late bill filing. Once a physician has chosen a product to use to implement the EHR they worry turns to compatibility. The physician has to worry if the system his office uses is going to work with other physician offices and the hospitals. Unless the EHR systems have the ability to talk with each other, HHS says that he health information system will remain disconnected. EHR reduces paperwork, reduces the number of tests being duplicated and reduces the number of medications errors being sent to the pharmacies. The EHR has taken the medical industry to a whole new level by allowing physicians and patients the opportunities to access their health information from anywhere. The government will not tell the physician what program they have to use, but they will provide assistance with the IT part. The government is giving physicians and hospitals together around $20 billion to help with implementing of the EHR. If a physician does not move toward the EHR, he will see penalties. The penalties will be a decrease in the Medicare fee schedule. Each year the physician does not change over to the EHR, they will lose 1% off of the fee schedule. Upon changing from the paper record to the electronic record, physicians are reporting seeing less of their patients. Physicians have much faster access to their patient’s information; they are able to make faster and better decisions about their patients’ health. One time saving advantage of the EHR is the use of e-scripts. This process allows the physician to send a digital copy of the patient’s prescription to the pharmacy of the patient. This cuts down on medication error and the pharmacist having a difficult time reading what the physician has written. The physician sends the scripts before the patient have even left the office and normally the pharmacy has the medication ready when the patient arrives.
Physicians are skeptical about the EHR system and have negative feelings for good reason. Most physicians are very concerned with losing patient information.

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